“Not a dull and boring history book. This book clearly is the result of extensive research. It is the best depiction of the European air war
that I have found. The facts are carefully researched and documented. The human suffering is linked in such a spellbinding manner that it is
hard to put the book down. The author has successfully combined a reference volume with entertainment. I will not hesitate to recommend
this volume to any one interested in aviation or history.”
“A true masterpiece of aerial warfare history !!!!! Chapeau Mr. Wolf ! What a masterpiece I practically devoured this non-fiction which
actually reads like a top-notch thriller. The author must have put incredible efforts and greatest passion into the creation process. “Air War”
is an incredible treasure chest filled with WW2 aerial history. Filled with very detailed descriptions and captivating background information
gathered from former contemporary witnesses. Fascscinating narrations, views from cockpits were dragging me in as if I were one of the pro-
tagonists.I could almost share the many emotions, thoughts, dispar, anxieties, pride or hope. [ ... ]To me this book is a “must-have” for everyone
who’s interested in this matter. Finally,I very much like the style and wording. No nested sentences, always clear, and easy to comprehend.”
CONTENTS
Contents
Foreword 8 Operation Torch—the allied
landings in French North Africa 284
1. The genie out of the bottle 17 Operation Husky—the invasion of Sicily 293
From the Treaty of Versailles via the founding of the Luftwaffe, The attack on Ploeşti 303
the main features of what was currently the modern conception of Miracle weapons 314
a war from the air, the Spanish Civil War, the Polish, Norwegian
and French campaigns to the Battle of Britain. The invasion of the Italian mainland—
the Gulf of Salerno 318
The Polish campaign 32 Improved and new German bombers 326
The Soviet-Finnish Winter War 43 Attacks on allied convoys 332
“Drôle de guerre”—The Phoney War 44 The poison gas tragedy of Bari 333
The fight for Norway 52 The difficult advance northwards 334
Case Yellow 62 From mountain to mountain, purgatory to hell 337
The Battle of Britain 80
Monte Cassino—the mountain of death 346
“Bronze Goddess”—solving the enigma 352
2. The “Star of Africa” 136
Operation Shingle—
Hans-Joachim Marseille and the African campaign. the landings at Ánzio and Nettuno 353
Morale 360
3. The fighter ace—despite everything 184 Roads, mud and the shells of naval guns 365
15 tons of explosive for every German 366
The astonishing journey of Hans-Ulrich Rudel to all the hot spots
along the Eastern Front via the sinking of the Marat outside Len- Operation Strangle 370
ingrad, the winter Battle of Moscow, the Battle of Stalingrad, Op- Operation Diadem 373
eration Citadel at Kursk, the Soviet recapture of the Ukraine, the
encirclement of Cherkasy, the fight for Hungary, and the bridges Stardom and Stars in Rome 377
over the Oder. Lastly the final battle against the Red Army outside Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana (ANR) 380
Berlin on the Seelow Heights.
Ugo Drago 385
Torpedo bombers 389
4. “Big Brother is helping you” 224
The vast consignments of American aid—deliveries of weapons 8. Ground attack aircraft 394
and materiel to the Soviet Union (Lend-Lease agreement). The
The Soviet recapture of the Crimea. The deployment of fighter
Arctic Sea convoys to Murmansk, the Kuban bridgehead, Soviet
bombers in aerial battles.
fighters and their method of deployment.
5. The kiss of death 246 9. “Dr. Gustav West!”—They are coming… 404
The invasion. “That surely has to be the greatest moment in the
Lidiya Litvyak. The fatal deployment of young women pilots.
history of the Luftwaffe” (Pips Priller).
5
CONTENTS
15. The flying barn doors 550 22. The defence of the Reich—
with backs to the wall 670
Restrictions on the development of German fighter aircraft con-
struction through the pressure of the requirements of mass-pro- 23rd January 1945. The Allies now had the freedom of the skies
duction (“Emergency Fighter Programme”) and the development over Germany, and from the skies were able to do as they pleased
of allied long-range fighters (for example, the Lockheed P-38 on the ground.
Lightning), and their flight range at various stages in the war. The
Luftwaffe’s defensive action of 18th December 1944.
23. Miracle weapons 678
16. “As safe as England.” Faith can move mountains but it cannot win wars. From the
“Volkssturm” to the first V1 aerial drone bomb via the first long-
The attack from nowhere 562 range V2 rocket to the first operational jet-powered bomber—the
The allied advance from the bridgehead of Normandy, the en- Arado Ar 234—and their mission on 9th March 1945 over the
circlement of Falaise. The landings in southern France to the bridge at Remagen. Göring’s appeals for self-sacrifice.
Ardennes Offensive of the German armed forces. The air battle
for the bridges over the Moselle of 23rd December 1944. V1 Revenge weapon 680
V2 Revenge weapon 684
The bridge at Eller 580
The last hope in the West—
the fateful River Rhine 686
17. The sky full of violins 586 The bridge at Remagen 689
The weather improves, the allied air forces strike back powerfully. Jet aircraft 692
23rd December 1944. Afflicted with blindness 697
Jet bombers 699
18. Silent night, one-sided fight— For the Führer, the People and the Fatherland 703
a stream of metal 200 miles long 596 Metal fatigue 711
24th December 1944. The most furious aerial onslaught on the The dam has burst 711
Luftwaffe, desperately fighting to reassert itself, in the history of
the defence of the Reich. 24. Jet fighters—Germany’s
final triumph in the sky 716
19. Low-flying enemy aircraft The legendary Messerschmitt Me 262—the first operational jet
over grid square Friedrich-Quelle 620 fighter aircraft ever to be deployed. They were too few in number
and arrived too late to be able to turn the tide. Yet for one last
The black day of the “long noses” of Jagdgeschwader 54. time the Luftwaffe earned itself due respect in its own air space. In
addition, from 18th March 1945 it demonstrated the world’s first
successful use of an unguided air-to-air missile specifically devel-
oped for this purpose (the R4M). The “folk’s-fighter” (Volksjäger)
and the first stealth plane.
6
CONTENTS
25. “Black is black criterion (including the British, and their allies the Common-
and stupidity is stupidity!” 736 wealth, French, American and Soviet pilots) was the Russian Ivan
Kozhedub with 62 kills.
Authoritarian and authority are not the same thing! “We cannot,
nor shall we, tolerate any further losses caused through stupidity
under any circumstances!” (Oberleutnant Dortenmann). 28. “Certainly, Comrade Commander!” 778
The evening of 8th May 1945. The tragic end of presumably the
26. Out-turned 756 last pilot to be shot down by German fighters in the Second World
War.
The deadly competition between the most modern allied and
German piston-engined fighter aircraft. The Focke-Wulf Ta 152
and the Hawker Tempest, both regarded as new models and not
a progressive development, were the last and presumably most
advanced propeller-driven high-performance fighters to enter
combat in fighter against fighter air battles. On 14th April 1945
the competition and showdown. Appendix 784
Performance parameters of the main aircraft 784
27. The ace of aces 766
Index of sources 822
Erich Hartmann with 352 kills—measured by the number of aerial
Index of pictures 825
victories—was by some distance the most outstanding fighter pilot
of all times. The most successful allied fighter according to this Index of units 827
Berlin: The Soviet victors parade around the ruins of the Reichstag: it is all over…
7
FOREWORD
Foreword
This book is dedicated to my father,
Gottfried Wolf.
8
DECLARATION BY THE AUTHOR
9
IN MEMORY OF WALTER OESAU
“Yes, I get the picture”, said Göring with a sneer, “then he, too, is not
only tired but a coward!”
When Oesau heard about this the bed rest was abruptly terminat-
ed. Despite his high temperature the young Oberstleutnant climbed
aboard his Messerschmitt Bf 109 G-6/AS fighter aeroplane ( 13 ,
serial number 20601) and flew off in pursuit of his wing. There was
no way that Oesau would let anyone call him a coward, a tired one
or otherwise.
The Kommodore encountered the enemy formation near the
small Belgium town of St Vith. He attempted to attack the Amer-
ican escort fighters of the bomber formation. Two P-51 Mustangs
and at least four P-38 “Lightnings” caught the ace fighter in a pincer
movement.
Oesau used every trick he knew and fought with all the skill, ex-
perience and tenacity gained from more than 300 missions. Despite
being greatly outnumbered the Kommodore was able to somehow
hold his own in a fight which lasted at least twenty minutes. The
combat which had started at 28,000 feet ended just above the treeline
in the idyllic surroundings of the wooded hills of the Ardennes.
And then it was over. Oesau had evidently been attempting a last-
ditch emergency landing when the cockpit of his Messerschmitt was
struck by a final hail of bullets. His body was found some distance
from the wreck of the fighter plane. Walter Oesau was dead.
He had proved that he was neither tired nor a coward.
In gratitude for which his wing later bore his name.
Walter Oesau was a hero.
In memory of Walter Oesau A tragic hero.
For what?
11th May 1944: Oberst Walter Oesau was a highly respected man.
A fighter pilot with at least 127 victories to his name, he was also Acknowledgements
the Kommodore of Fighter Wing 1 (JG 1), a man renowned for
his bravery and his fighting spirit. Adolf Galland spoke of him ad- Special thanks to:
miringly as a “tough, brilliant fighter pilot”. Wilhelm Göbel
At that time Walter Oesau was considered a hero. Eddie Creek
In May 1944 despite years of fighting, and suffering both phys- Matti Salonen
ically and emotionally Walter Oesau still battled on, sad and dis- Dip. Eng. Konstantin Ivanov
illusioned. One day as he was returning from a briefing he confided Rob Fernley
to a friend that he did not intend to survive the war. He had learned my wife Annette
about certain “matters” he neither wished nor was able to share with (for her patience)
others, or else the entire wing could lose the will to fight. Today we
know what he was referring to, although the majority of the people I am also deeply grateful to:
did not know about it at the time. Andrew Arthy
Oesau was a fighter but on that day, 11th May 1944 he had a high Christer Bergström
temperature and was confined to bed with influenza. Peter Cohausz Jean-Yves Lorant
His wing had already taken off as, not for the first time, about Ferdinando d’Amico Frank Olynyk
1,000 heavy American bombers and a similar number of US fighter Klaus Deumling, KG 100 Karl-Heinz Ossenkopp, JG 26
escorts were attacking French railway installations in preparation Axel Dortenmann, Dr. Jochen Prien
for the planned allied invasion. As the vastly outnumbered German Son of Hans Dortenmann, Peter Rodeike
fighters were approaching the enemy formation the telephone rang at JG 54/JG 26 Willi Reschke, JG 301
the airfield. It was Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring, Commander- Karl-Heinz Eichhorn Ernst Scheufele, JG 4
in-Chief of the Luftwaffe, who was at the end of the line, asking for Wolfgang Fleischer Dr. Helmut Schnatz
an up to date assessment. Karl-Georg Genth, JG 26 Ernst Schröder, JG 300
“Is the Kommodore airborne yet?” Manfred Griehl Claes Sundin
“No, he is confined to bed with a temperature!” came back the reply. Victor Heimann, JG 300 Dr. Christian Zentner
10
ExPLANATORY NOTES
Explanatory notes With reference to the description of German units: unlike the Amer-
ican and British units in which standard English usage requires the
At the start of the Second World War the German Messerschmitt use of ordinal numbers (for example 2nd or 5th—although RAF
fighters were not named after their designer (Willi Messerschmitt), squadrons simply used a cardinal number, for example 331 Squadron)
but their manufacturer—the Bavarian Aeroplane Company (Bayer- the standard German practice of using the cardinal number or the
ische Flugzeugwerke). Thus we have Bf 109 or Bf 110 for example. Roman numeral followed by a full stop (for example 2. or 5.) has been
This did not change until the arrival of the Me 210, Me 410, Me 262 retained throughout the text.
and Me 163, after the Bavarian Aeroplane Company had become Special note: the author would like to sincerely thank the trans-
Messerschmitt AG. Yet even then the use of the notation Bf contin- lator of this book, Rob Fernley. All the citations concerning original
ued to be used in official German documents. As the term Me, thus documents which were available to the author in German were trans-
Me 109, was far more frequently used amongst pilots at the time lated into English by Rob Fernley. Other documents, which as origi-
and today is much more common than Bf, the author will use the nal documents were on hand in English, are citated literally according
following notation: to international rules. This is the case, even when other authors had
• Me 109: used in the text in this form as the normal abbreviation. original German documents translated and therefore only an already
• but: Messerschmitt Bf 109 : this is the correct form written in full, translated version was available to the author of this book. Especially
and from the Me 210 onwards: Messerschmitt Me 210. in these instances the translator, Rob Fernley, would like to point
• in tables: Bf 109. out that the original translation of these citations are not his doing.
Further, the different British and American types of aircraft are As a general rule for reasons of authenticity, where the naming of
identified by the name of the type, for example Spitfire, Hurricane, ranks is concerned, preference is given to the original rank within
Mustang or Thunderbolt. The following notation is therefore used the specific country, for example, “Kapitan” (Soviet) or “Captain”
in the text: (American) instead of “Hauptmann” (German equivalent). The ta-
• Mustang (standing alone the name defines the aircraft type). ble below is intended as a point of reference. Note: the Russian rank
• Supermarine Spitfire Mk. Ix. “Mayor” (Major) therefore is not to be mistaken for a village mayor…
11
THE LUFTWAFFE
Stabsstaffel (HQ squadron) of both a group and the wing itself. These 8. Squadron / III. Group: 5 | or 5 |
figures were of course rarely even approximated in reality. Thus at the 9. Squadron / III. Group: 5 | or 5 |
end of 1944 many a Fighter Wing (Jagdgeschwader, abbreviated to JG) HQ Squadron / III. Group: 5 | or | 1 | o |
inally an alternative was a wavy line but this was abandoned after a 10. Squadron / III. Group: 5 | or 5 |
fourth group was introduced) and a wave the fourth group. A wing was 11. Squadron / III. Group: 5 | or 5 |
named with an Arabic numeral and a group with a Roman numeral. 12. Squadron / III. Group: 5 | (when present)
Thus: 3./JG 27 = 3. Squadron of 27 Fighter Wing. HQ Squadron / III. Group: 5 | or | 1 | o |
12
THE LUFTWAFFE
Identification: 5
(black according to the rules, 5./JG 11)
Identification: 13 ~
(black according to the rules, 14./JG 4)
Identification: 3
black according to the rules, 2./JG 1)
13
ROYAL AIR FORCE (RAF)
From the beginning of the war until the year 1944 the wings were
Fuselage bands: (NB: for a long time stood yellow for the Eastern
distinguished from each other by sometimes very elaborate insignia Front and white for Mediterranean region)
which were placed either beneath the cockpit or on the cowling. Two
of the most famous are the Green Heart of JG 54 and the Africa-Em- JG 1 JG 7 JG 53
JG 5
Note: “Eismeer” JG 5 JG 51 JG 301
means “Arctic Sea”.
II./ KG 3 JG 6 JG 52
SA = 486 Squadron
SA U
U = W.O. O.J. Mitchell
FN = 331 Squadron
FN B
B = Captain J. Ræder
14
US ARMY AIR FORCE (USAAF)
middle of 1940 it was down to 12. From August 1940 a nominal US Army Air Force (USAAF)
strength of 20 fighter aircraft was once again established but only
achieved at a later date. This did not necessarily mean that in a given Fighter Squadron = “FS”, Fighter Group = “FG”.
Royal Air Force squadron there were 20 pilots available; the nominal The system was similar to that of the Royal Air Force. A squadron,
number referred to the number of aeroplanes available including re- however, consisted of about 18 aeroplanes (18–24). Three squadrons
serves. Several squadrons formed a wing, several wings a group. The formed a group, which although it could comprise up to 72 aero-
markings consisted of two letters, or one letter and one number in planes, it was rare for a group to have that number operational at
front of the British emblem. This combination identified the squad- any given time. Thus on 19 March 1945 a mission of the 78th Fighter
ron. A further letter behind the insignia identified the individual Group comprised only 47 P-51 Mustangs (cf. chapter 25).
aeroplane within the squadron .
HO = 487th Squadron
HO M
M = Col. J.C. Meyer
The three Squadrons within a group often distinguished themselves
by the colour of the rudder. Blue and HO indicate here the 487th
Fighter Squadron within the 352nd Fighter Group .
PE = 328th Squadron
PE B
B = Capt. Don Bryan
Red and PE indicate here the 328th Fighter Squadron within the
352nd Fighter Group.
G4 = 362nd Squadron
G4 C
C = Capt. ’Kit’ Carson
Whereas each different Fighter Group would always have its own
distinctive colour pattern—such as here the 357th Group. A Group was
the smallest separate organisatonal unit. Several Groups constituted a
(The cowling above bears a chess-board design in contrast to the Wing, so that the “Group – Wing”-system was not identical to that of
“blue noses” further above). the Royal Air Force.
I4 (left side)
I4 (right side)
15
NATIONAL INSIGNIA
Vichy-France France
Italy
United States of America—USA
Hungary
Soviet Union
Finland
Poland
Norway
Romania
Greece
Specific reference:
The blue Finnish swastika had absolutely no connection with
National Socialism in Germany and was, in fact, the personal coat
of arms of the Swede Eric von Rosen who was instrumental in
the founding of the Finnish Air Force. Von Rosen donated to the Holland
Finns their first military aeroplane, a Thulin D—which is why the
Finns used this insignia on their military planes from the years
1918 to 1945.
Belgium
16
9. “Dr. Gustav West!“—They’re coming…
5th June 1944. ing officer was still sitting at his desk at Saint-Lô, when three officers
German intelligence was not asleep, and nor was their radio moni- entered carrying a bottle of Chablis, to celebrate the 53rd birthday
toring branch. They were listening to the radio and BBC London was of their commander, General Erich Marcks. The celebration was a
broadcasting poetry in French: brief one, since a training exercise was on the programme for the
“ Les sanglots lourds des violons de l’automne “. following morning, in the rear area at Rennes. That meant an early
Those first three lines of the first stanza of Paul Verlaine’s poem, departure: the aim of the exercise was to practise defence against
“Chanson d’Automne“, had already been broadcast on 1st June 1944, enemy airborne troops.
thereby placing the members of the French Résistance movement on The warning did not reach General Marcks either, nor, indeed,
a state of high alert. That was the whole purpose of the coded radio Generaloberst Friedrich Dollmann, the commander-in-chief of the
message. Actually it should have been literally pronounced “ Les san- 7. Army. He also intended travelling to Rennes. The 7. Army defended
glots longs des violons de l’automne“, but such subtleties of the French the coastal stretch between Ouistreham and St. Nazaire. It was an
language seemed to be secondary in those days. However, there now area considered to be of only minor importance. The fortifications
followed on 5th June 1944 at 18.00 hours *1, the second part of the of the Atlantic Wall here were correspondingly full of gaps.
message. The German radio intelligence officer sat up bolt upright Caen lay due south-west of Ouistreham. And over Caen and Cher-
as the last three lines of the first stanza of the poem came out over bourg night fell as usual. Sentries carried out their routine duties: all
the airwaves: was quiet on the Western Front.
“ Bercent mon cœur d’une langueur monotone. “ West of Ouistreham.
For that message actually signified that the long-expected invasion In Normandy.
of France by allied troops was now imminent: it would happen within The commander-in-chief of Army Group B in France had set out
the next 48 hours. German intelligence had done their homework by car on 4th June 1944, leaving his headquarters in La Roche-Guy-
and learned that much. Albeit it should read correctly “ Blessent mon on. Feldmarschall Erwin Rommel intended to be at home in Her-
coeur… “. Therefore it could be tomorrow, then, 6th June 1944. rlingen, near Ulm, by the evening in order to celebrate his wife’s 50th
So now the moment had arrived. Now? Surely not in this terrible birthday. On 6th June 1944 he had a meeting scheduled with Hitler
weather? That was almost too hard to believe. on the Obersalzberg at Berchtesgaden. Rommel wanted to impress
Still, that message left no doubt. That was the signal for the Ré- upon Hitler the weakness of his forces and ask for at least two new
sistance to attack. After that there would be no turning back. Panzerdivisions and in addition an anti-aircraft artillery corps and a
Therefore: full-scale alert! Nebelwerfer regiment. Since Germany was being pressed on so many
Since 22.00 hours*2 the soldiers of the German 15. Army had been on fronts, however, where could they spare these forces from? Rommel
standby. The 15. Army was defending the position where German High realised that, but he needed these troops, and they were the bare
Command expected the invasion: the narrowest stretch of the English minimum! His force had been cobbled together from all over the
Channel, the Strait of Dover. Here were the most well constructed for- world. A significant proportion of the Wehrmacht defensive force in
tifications, bunkers, defensive positions and barbed wire fencing. The France comprised Croats, Hungarians, Poles, Latvians, Lithuanians,
15. Army’s headquarters was at Tourcoing, near Lille. They planned to Russians, Ukrainians, Georgians, Tatars and men from many other
give the American and the British a warm welcome. The sphere of op- nations, whether conscripts, defectors or volunteers. It was difficult
erations of the 15th Army extended westward as far as the mouth of to predict how reliable a fighting force they would be once they came
the Orne river. The Orne reached the Channel near Ouistreham, 20 or under enemy fire. And what of the German troops themselves? The
so miles south-west of Le Havre. The German 7. Army held positions Panzerdivisions, some of them actually Waffen-SS units, were well
further to the west. equipped and highly motivated. However, among the other divi-
But the 7. Army had been left in ignorance. The state of alert issued sions were many who had sustained minor injuries and had been
in the area of the 15. Army was not passed on to them. The LXXXIV. withdrawn from the murderous battles in Russia and redeployed in
(84.) Army Corps was part of the 7. Army. At midnight its command- France. One entire division, the 70. Infantry Division, was composed
of men suffering gastric disorders who required a special diet. The
Wehrmacht had lost altogether 2,086,000 men, captured, injured and
*1 *2
The time given corresponds to German time. As it was Double British Summer Time (DBST)
22.00 hours in France meant it was 23.00 hours in Germany and Britain, see page 407. Oberstleutnant therefore incapacitated or killed by the end of the fourth year of the
Meyer, the head of intelligence of the German 15. Army, alerted Generaloberst Hans von Salmuth, the
commander-in-chief of the 15. Army, at 21.15 hours German time (therefore also 21.15 hours DBST). war, 1943. That was taking its toll.
404
9. “DR. GUSTAV WEST!“—THEy’RE COMING…
As for the Luftwaffe? Even the most optimistic of the German The Germans who had carefully analysed all the previous allied am-
generals now realised that the few remaining German wings were phibious landings, for example those in Italy, were therefore convinced
so outnumbered by the allied air forces that all they could achieve that this one would follow the pattern and take place at high tide and in
would be damage limitation. The only question was, in any event, calm weather conditions. Anything else made no military sense. Now
the extent to which they would be able to do so successfully. The at low tide and in this awful weather they would therefore have a few
idea of air superiority of the German fighter aircraft, let alone even days’ respite, in which to take advantage of the brief delay and under-
air supremacy over the landing beaches of the invasion force, was take some urgent regrouping in safety: one unit being redeployed was
completely unrealistic. The fact that the skies would belong to the not yet ready for action. What was required for redeploying forces were
Americans and the British was a reality they would have to get used roads, and for the time being the roads were, to a certain extent, safe
to; that was how things actually stood now. The American and British from the damned omnipresent British and American fighter bombers
aircraft outnumbered the Luftwaffe in France by 50 : 1. On 31st May and medium-range bombers: so, if at all, then now was the time! It was
1944 the Germans could call on 891 aircraft of all kinds on French also possible to carry out exercises such as the one in Rennes focusing
soil, only 496 of which were operational. on the defence against an air landing. It was evident that such a land-
On 4th June 1944 there were only 173 German fighters in the ing would precede the invasion. But not that night. Therefore at that
whole of France against the powerful British and American air forces, moment they could release the German commanders from their units
which were superior, not only numerically, but also in terms of qual- for such a training exercise as that one with little risk.
ity. Only 119 were currently air worthy, 71 belonged to Jagdgeschwa- It was also possible to travel to Germany for a birthday celebra-
der (JG) 26, the remaining 48 to JG 2. tion or—more importantly—for a meeting with Hitler. To this day
Allied air supremacy had serious consequences. The Desert Fox, he reserved the right to have the final say on the deployment of tank
Rommel, who in earlier times in North Africa had been an impas- reserves, and even redeployments within Army Groups required his
sioned advocate and master of mobile warfare with fast-moving units, agreement. Hitler had ensured that nothing happened without his
had by the end of the campaign witnessed for himself the destruction permission in the decision-making hierarchy of the German forces in
of his forces, as they were mercilessly shot to pieces and blown to France, the structure of which he had deliberately made as complicated
smithereens from the air. He knew that in France he would have to as possible. Not even Rommel, who as commander-in-chief of Army
destroy the enemy directly at the coast. If they were to break through Group B had to obtain the agreement of the Commander-in-Chief
further inland they would be virtually unstoppable, since allied air West, Generalfeldmarschall Gerd von Rundstedt, had absolute pow-
supremacy meant that German troop movement could only take ers. In the past Rommel had attempted at least to maintain overall
place at night. Counter attacks by tanks during the day would see control of the coastal facilities and the deployment zone near the
them exposed to the extreme danger of the bombs and rockets of beaches: to no avail. Perhaps his conversation with Hitler might now
the Anglo-American fighter bombers. The wily Desert Fox would give him his opportunity?
be proved right. After all Hitler had at the end of 1943 ordered him to inspect the
Rommel needed reinforcements—and urgently. If the Allies were defensive facilities on the Atlantic coast and to construct an impreg-
to get a foothold in France then the war would be lost irrevocably for nable fortification. Rommel was diligent, considered and purposeful
Germany. That much was obvious to Rommel. as he set to his task. But how was he supposed to secure an area from
For the moment, however they would apparently have a few days’ Denmark to the Bay of Biscay? The work was frantic, but with the
grace before an invasion. A violent storm was currently lashing the assistance of many foreign workers and forced labour, the German
coast, whipping up the waves and making a naval landing opera- Todt Organisation constructed bunkers and defensive positions. The
tion a huge, completely unnecessary risk. Furthermore the low cloud French Résistance movement sabotaged what they could, including
base would jeopardise the success of the landings, since the crucial the poor quality concrete which was nowhere near as bullet-proof
deployment of the British and American aircraft—their bombers, as it should have been. Rommel ate very little and forgot to sleep or,
low-flying aircraft, transports and reconnaissance aircraft—would perhaps, anxiety kept him awake. He improvised where possible but,
be compromised. Also the tide was out. They would never land at low in view of the massive tasks confronting him, he had no alternative
tide since it would mean the soldiers having to run several hundred but to prioritise.
yards after disembarking from the landing craft, across mudflats When would they come? Certainly at high tide, that was obvious.
offering no protection until they came ashore and reached a mini- Thus Rommel had thousands of posts and entanglements construct-
mum of natural cover. That would be suicide. The allied commanders ed under the water, just below the high water mark. These were hung
would hardly send their men as cannon fodder into the direct line of with mines and pieces of metal which would blow up the landing craft
German machine guns and shellfire. At high tide the landing craft or rip open their hulls, for the helmsman at the wheel of the landing
could approach to the very edge of the shore. The assault troops, craft would be unable to see these underwater obstacles, since at high
who would be crouching in their boats protected from enemy MG tide they would be invisible.
fire behind the steel ramps of the landing craft, would thus be able The opposite would be true at low tide—for the Résistance fight-
to cover the distance ashore far more safely than soldiers storming ers as well as the allied reconnaissance aircraft. On the other side of
ashore completely unprotected. However, sooner or later the ramps the Channel these defensive facilities were taken seriously. Perhaps a
would have to be lowered. landing at low tide might be the better option after all?
405
9. “DR. GUSTAV WEST!“—THEy’RE COMING…
But then there was the problem of the German guns, mortar took too much notice of the fact that the British fighters only attacked
launchers and machine gun nests: the casualties among the assault the reconnaissance aircraft in a very perfunctory manner. Nor was it
troops would be catastrophic at low tide. possible for the reconnaissance aircraft to spot from the air that these
Providing, of course, there were still men capable of firing on the aircraft, tanks and landing craft were in fact made of papier mâché.
German side. The Allies were confident that they would largely be able Particularly conclusive was the confirmation by German agents in Brit-
to prevent this. The massive bombardment from many thousands of ain, known as Garbo, Snow and Brutus, that Calais would be the allied
ships’ guns, ship-borne rocket launcher batteries together with the landing area. The Germans did not know that all three were British
enormous hail of bombs intended for the German coastal defences, double agents who had deliberately been plying German intelligence
would guarantee there would be no survivors over there. The planners with genuine information which was verifiable, and subsequently false
of allied High Command were absolutely convinced of that. information which was not. The British in turn were able to evaluate
They would make sure that none of the bunkers or machine gun the effects of this since they could decrypt the German radio code,
nests would be left firing at the American, British and Canadian as- having acquired an intact Enigma cipher machine. This machine had
sault troops. been constructed so ingeniously that even in such a case as this the
Thus the landings would take place at low tide. Rommel’s under- Germans considered cracking its code to be impossible. Nevertheless,
water obstacles would therefore be completely ineffective. however difficult it may have been, the British did succeed in doing so.
Rommel would not expect that. And yet he had a few other cards Therefore now they were able to assess whether they had been able to
up his sleeve. There were tank traps at his disposal on the beach and in hoodwink their enemy. On 8th June 1944 Garbo would tell the Ger-
the rear area, although they had not posed much of an obstacle to his mans that the allied landings in Normandy had been a diversionary
own tanks four years earlier. The so-called “Rommel Asparagus“ were manoeuvre and the actual landings at Pas-de-Calais were imminent.
obstacles in inland meadows strung with old French shells and mines. The Germans would be taken in: a costly error.
They were intended to destroy gliders on landing. Whole areas would The commander of allied forces, the American Commander-in-
be flooded—death traps for paratroops fully laden, who in general Chief, General Dwight D. “Ike“ Eisenhower and his British colleague,
would not have enough time to get rid of the heavy loads which would Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, Rommel’s old adversary from
then take them down into the depths. Two to three million mines were North Africa, had a decision to make. The landing area had long been
laid, which was far too few. Rommel had requested 100-200 million but designated after a comprehensive study by allied High Command. The
that was way beyond the scope of Germany’s war economy. Then there Dutch coast was too susceptible to flooding, and the sea current off the
were the bunkers. On 1st May 1944 only 299 of the 547 coastal guns coast of Belgium was too strong. Brittany had favourable conditions
were located in concrete defensive facilities, and this was particularly on the coast but was situated somewhat too far from Britain, and the
the case in the area most likely to be the scene of the attack at Calais roads which led inland were scarcely ideal for a large-scale advance.
on the Dover Strait. The fortifications in Normandy and Brittany were Pas-de-Calais was not without its merits but the beaches were steep—
even further from completion. Time was pressing. and it was, of course, here that the Germans expected the advance.
Where would they arrive? Rommel was racking his brains, as were Therefore the only logical choice was Normandy. The coast here was
the others in German High Command. There were plenty of indica- mainly flat, the road network was good (once the bomb damage had
tions but these were contradictory in nature. At German HQ they been repaired) and—in particular—there were large ports. They would
attempted to gauge the enemy’s intentions from the incessant allied attack in Normandy. And they would strengthen the German convic-
air attacks. However, the Americans and British were systematically tion that they were really going to land in Pas-de-Calais.
destroying all the transport routes in northern France, roads, bridges, Which only left the date to be fixed. Originally the deadline was set
railway stations and railway tracks. On 24th May 1944, for example, for May 1944. However at that time there were not enough landing
B-26 Marauder medium-range bombers bombed all the bridges across craft and landing boats available. After that 5th June 1944 was the date
the Seine north of Mantes. Continued attacks meant it was impos- pencilled in. Now that everything was in place it could go ahead. The
sible to repair them. The French Underground also played an active circumstances were right, the tide was out, a full moon would not rise
sabotage role. How could the Germans predict where the invasion until late—therefore around zero hour—a prerequisite for a successful
would take place if the enemy had the wherewithal of concealing its air landing operation. Unfortunately the weather refused to cooperate.
intentions behind an area bombing campaign, and attacks were oc- Confidentiality was still being maintained. The troops were meanwhile
curring all over the place? on board their ships and half of the men were seasick. On 4th June
The number of very large ports in Normandy and Brittany sug- 1944 at 04.30 hours the attack was called off. What now?
gested the landings could be there. A captured port was essential in The next configuration of a low tide and a full moon would occur
order to guarantee immediate supplies for troops who were extremely on 19th June 1944. yet they could not possibly keep the soldiers on
vulnerable in the hours following a landing. However, there was grow- board for so long. However they would hardly be able to keep their
ing evidence to support an imminent landing at Pas-de-Calais, at the disembarkation secret, either, which would run the enormous risk of
end of the Dover Strait. Opposite here, on the other side of the Chan- allowing the Germans to discover at the last minute where the inva-
nel, German reconnaissance aircraft observed the construction of new sion would take place. Moreover the weather forecast for 19th June
airfields filled with aircraft, and the concentration of whole columns suggested the conditions would be even worse than they were now.
of tanks, landing craft and similar war materiel in the ports. Nobody But the day after tomorrow, 6th June 1944, a ridge of high pressure
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9. “DR. GUSTAV WEST!“—THEy’RE COMING…
was expected, which would bring about a short-term improvement. 6. June 1944—D-Day
Even the cloud cover was due to disperse temporarily. In Britain the
time was now 21.30 hours. 01.00 hours – 01.45 hours (British Double Summer Time, BDST);
The allied Chief Meteorological Oficer, RAF Group Captain J. M. for the Germans in France it was 00.00 hours – 00.45 hours, since in
Stagg, was asked if he could guarantee that. He replied that he was a France it was Central European Time (CET), therefore neither British
meteorologist, not a soothsayer: that was not a guarantee! nor German summer time. The time system will be explained in
The ultimate decision rested with Ike Eisenhower. His watch showed Chapter 15, but it should be briefly pointed out here: in the war years
just before 22.00 hours on 4th June 1944. Already that morning Mont- the British put their clocks forward by two hours ahead of Green-
gomery had been against a postponement and was raring to go. wich Mean Time, GMT ( GMT + 2h). In France CET applied =
Eisenhower found this an extremely difficult decision. The lives of GMT + 1h, in Germany German summer time applied = CET + 1h
thousands of his men depended on it. All in all he had at his disposal GMT + 2 h). In Germany and Britain therefore the clocks ticked in
3,500,000 men and 20 million tons of materiel. 22.00 hours was the unison, although not in France which was an hour behind in summer.
final deadline for a yes or a no. He had to make his decision now. The German LXXXIV. Army Corps in Saint-Lô received a report
“Okay—Go!“ of enemy paratroops landing in Normandy. General Marcks had lost
The meteorologists on the German side were not expecting an his taste for Chablis and without delay broke off his preparations
improvement in the weather. They did not have the facilities of the for the departure to Rennes. Evidently they could dispense with the
American meteorological measuring stations around the Atlantic, nor war games—the grim reality was apparently here instead. At 02.00
access to their data. Moreover it was difficult to assess how valuable a hours further reports came in. Dollmann, Salmuth and von Rund-
single day’s improved weather conditions might be from the other side stedt—the German commanders—were all wakened. Something was
of the Channel. yet this one day would prove important. And a whole happening there!
day could be a long time. The 13,200 British and American paratroops were scattered in all
This one would become the “Longest Day“. directions, the low cloud base had made locating the landing zones
Großbritannien und Nordirland = Great Britain and Northern Ireland | Frankreich = France | Belgien = Belgium | Bretagne = Brittany | Normandie = Normandy | 7./15. Armee
= 7. (7th)/15. (15th) Army | Grenze = (in this case) dividing rule
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9. “DR. GUSTAV WEST!“—THEy’RE COMING…
difficult. Although the gliders did come down, their losses were sub- him. If the corporal from Bohemia wanted to be a commander then
stantial. In addition they had come under attack from the German so be it. Generalfeldmarschall von Rundstedt had long since handed
anti-aircraft guns. Of those that managed to land, however, some in his moral notice.
now fell victim to the marshes and the water. Many of the men sank 05.00 hours (BDST):
beneath the weight of their equipment in the flooded areas. Others The countryside of Normandy was shaking beneath the bombard-
became entangled in their parachute suspension lines and drowned. ment. In total 1,056 heavy British Lancaster bombers were attacking
Some gliders slid into the water as was the case at the Pegasus Bridge. the ten most important German gun batteries. Merville, Fontenay
Not all of the occupants were able to free themselves. Large and and Saint-Martin-de-Varreville had already been bombed before the
smaller groups gathered together and formed themselves into as- paratroop landing. Now it was the turn of the guns at La Pernelle,
sault units. In some places the Germans were on the alert, in others Maisy, Point du Hoc, Lonques, Mont-Fleury, Ouistreham and Houl-
they were taken completely unawares. The bridges over the Dives gate. It was a murderous bombardment and yet this was only the
river were blown up by American paratroops. British paratroops took prelude.
the German artillery battery at Merville in a coup de main. British Through the haze the outline of the invasion fleet could be made
Lancaster bombers had been intended to soften up the fortifications out—a huge armada. Meanwhile it had also been detected on the screen
a few hours earlier in the night. However the bombs completely failed of one of the last intact German radar stations off Port-en-Bassin. A
to hit their target. deliberately laid smoke screen concealed the ships at the eastern end of
The Germans counter-attacked and recaptured the battery, al- the invasion fleet from the gun sights of the heavy gunners at Le Havre.
though the guns inside had now been destroyed. At 05.00 hours, Suddenly three fast-moving shadows appeared. They were three Ger-
after fire support from the British warship HMS Arethusa, the forti- man torpedoes boats, the T-38, the Jaguar and the Möwe. The German
fication was back in allied hands. A total of 65 British paratroopers navy had little else to offer against the enormous fleet. The torpedo
were killed and 190 were missing in action. Their wounded totalled boats came under concentrated fire as soon as they had been identified,
30 and 22 were taken into captivity. It transpired that the German and turned away. But their torpedoes were already speeding towards
guns which had now been blown up were of a smaller calibre than the allied fleet. The Norwegian destroyer Svenner was hit and sank im-
expected; they would have posed very little threat to the nearby Brit- mediately. A few German guns fired from the shore but achieved little.
ish landing sector. 05.30 hours (BDST):
Other British paratroop units captured strategically important A total of 1,630 American four-engined B-24 Liberators and B-17
bridges, such as the Horsa Bridge, as it would later be named, over Flying Fortresses relieved the British Lancaster Bombers. An in-
the Orne, and the Pegasus Bridge over the Caen Canal. The German describable bombardment ploughed up the coastal stretches of the
units in parts of rural Normandy were caught off guard and thrown landing beaches. The bombs left little remaining of the fortifica-
into confusion. However the allied paratroops were not exactly the tions within the target area—provided that they did hit the mark.
model of military unity either. The low pressure weather frontal system unfortunately turned out
Counter measures were initiated, although Generalleutnant Wil- as feared, with visibility on the ground in many places almost down
helm Falley, the commander of German 91. Infantry Division, was to zero. The bomb aimers were forced to gauge their position from
shot shortly before reaching his command post. A sub-machine gun their navigation instruments alone. The bombing in the British
burst caught his car. He jumped out, pistol in hand, but he was fatally landing sectors was to a large extent successfully targeted. In the
wounded by a second burst of fire. American Omaha landing sector not so: fearing that the bombs
However, in Saint-Lô General Marcks now ordered his single re- might harmlessly fall into the water here the Liberator bombers
serve regiment to advance to Carentan and sort out the situation there. dropped their loads a few seconds too late. Those few seconds
Generaloberst Dollmann deployed other troops. The 21. Panzer- equalled miles. The majority of them landed some two miles be-
division, the reserve of Army Group B, was brought forward. The hind the German defensive positions where the installations were
order came from Generalleutnant Hans Speidel, Head of General particularly well fortified.
Staff of Army Group B and Rommel’s deputy. Now the ships’ guns opened fire in front of the British landing sec-
Shortly before 06.00 hours Blumentritt, Chief of Staff of the Com- tors Sword, Juno and Gold. An immense, hellish chain of explosions
mander-in-Chief West, telephoned Berchtesgaden to inform Hitler erupted, unleashing clouds of smoke and billowing flames. The 6,000
that the invasion had begun. There Generaloberst Jodl was aroused ships at the Allies’ disposal constituted the biggest invasion fleet of all
from his sleep. He was sceptical and considered the whole thing to be time by some distance. It included, among others, five battleships, 23
a diversionary manoeuvre. The Führer had been awake long into the cruisers, 69 destroyers, 56 frigates and corvettes, 247 minesweepers,
night and only just fallen asleep. Jodl dared not wake him, knowing five monitors and gunboats, 256 smaller ships and 4,126 larger land-
full well his reputation for furious bursts of anger: not on account of ing craft. The countless small landing craft have not been included.
a diversionary manoeuvre, anyway. The barrage of steel launched above the German defensive positions
Generalfeldmarschall von Rundstedt, Commander-in-Chief West, and bunkers was beyond description. It was compounded by a hail
left them to it. He felt nothing but contempt for Hitler, the “Bohemian of rockets, the salvos of which ripped onto the beaches accompanied
corporal“ from the First World War, who had presumed to command by an infernal wailing sound which then merged with the explosions
his armies and lord it over him, and he effectively washed his hands of of the shells from the ships’ heavy guns.
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9. “DR. GUSTAV WEST!“—THEy’RE COMING…
Omaha Beach: Since Steven Spielberg’s Film “Saving Private Ryan“ many These photos have been coloured retrospectively but in an extremely pro-
cinemagoers have gained some sense of what happened here. Despite his fessional way.
unstinting efforts to be faithful to the events, the landing scenes depicted
did not come close to the reality.
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9. “DR. GUSTAV WEST!“—THEy’RE COMING…
Volleys of machine gun fire lashed the shore. The American losses Gold Beach
numbered thousands: the US boys were pinned down on the beach. The British came ashore at 07.25 hours. The bombers and ships’
The next wave followed and they fared no better. Mutilated bodies guns had done their job. Nevertheless they met desperate resistance.
littered the beach, corpses soaked in blood covered the sand. The It took the British the whole day to capture the German positions
scenes of horror were captured in detail on film, although in the film at Le Hamel, in spite of their vastly superior resources. Unlike the
the hell lasted not more than a terrible half hour or so. The actual Germans, who had little more to offer the British in return other
reality continued for considerably longer: it was a nightmare which than their tenacity.
refused to end. As the sea was very rough the landing craft brought the tanks di-
Gradually the tide came in. For those who were wounded and no rectly ashore here. Some of the armoured vehicles were immediately
longer able to crawl it was now over. destroyed by anti-tank guns. The others, however, managed to break
Next amphibious trucks, DUKWs (known colloquially by the al- through and they quickly received support.
lied soldiers as “Ducks“) which had guns on board attempted to come The sheer volume of the materiel, tanks, Sherman Crab mine-
ashore. Without exception they sank beneath the German defensive clearing tanks and other heavy plant flooding the beach made the
fire. task facing the German defenders an impossible one. The British
It was not until late morning that the tide, figuratively speaking, units advanced past the German resistance and headed towards Ar-
turned when Colonel Canham and Brigadier General Cota managed romanches and Ver-sur-Mer.
to blow a hole in the barbed wire entanglement which barred the nar- Juno Beach
row pass to St. Laurent by means of a concentrated charge (clusters This was the landing sector assigned to the Canadian 3rd Divi-
of hand grenades). The high tide enabled the destroyers lying off the sion. The allied air attacks during the night had inflicted scarcely
coast to come into the line of sight of the mayhem taking place on that any damage at all. The murderous ships’ fire had also only put some
sector of the beach. They directed their fire at the German pockets 15 % of the bunkers out of action. As the weather conditions resulted
of resistance. Canham, Cota and a few of their men were able to take in the landing being delayed by about half an hour the Germans
advantage of one of these salvos. A direct hit by a destroyer shattered had sufficient time in which to regroup, once the artillery bombard-
the gun emplacement at Les Moulins. ment had ended.
After that the Americans were through. When the Canadians arrived the Germans were ready for them.
In other areas of the beach sector the fighting lasted until evening. However the men of the German 716. Division were only fit for action
The American losses totalled some 3,500 men while on the German to a limited degree. Many of them were veterans from the fighting in
side they amounted to 700 or so soldiers. Russia and suffered from various disabilities.
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9. “DR. GUSTAV WEST!“—THEy’RE COMING…
The water was heavily mined. The high sand dunes made the The Luftwaffe
landing difficult and launching and bringing the amphibious tanks
ashore safe and sound was an arduous task. Only a few managed to The first German aircraft which appeared above the allied in-
reach the coast and these landed after the assault troops. Up to that vasion fleet was a reconnaissance fighter of 3./NAGr 13. Leutnant
point in time the infantry were left without armoured support and Adalbert Bärwolf was utterly amazed at the sight which greeted him
suffered correspondingly high losses. At the eastern end of the land- shortly after sunrise. The size of the death machine far below him
ing sector the sea was so rough that the infantry had to get by without was enormous.
any tank support at all. Lille-Nord, 55 miles south-east of Calais and barely 155 miles
German resistance was fierce and determined. The German strong east of Ouistreham, was the headquarters of Jagdgeschwader (JG)
point in the west at Courseulles-sur-Mer also bravely held firm. Heavy 26. If it could still be called that, since only the previous day, 5th June
fighting erupted, and after an hour half of the Canadian force which 1944, against the express, determined objections of its commander,
had landed were dead, victims of the German fire. What may be less it was scattered to the four winds. The valuable aircraft needed to be
well-known, that figure corresponded exactly to the overall loss rate made safe for the time being from the increasingly dangerous Anglo-
of the Americans at Omaha Beach at that time. Now, however, those American fighter bomber attacks on the ground. I. Gruppe was on its
tanks of the Canadians which were still battle worthy made their pres- way to the area around Rheims, III. Gruppe was in Nancy. Whereas
ence felt. They succeeded in breaking through the German defensive I. Gruppe would hitherto return in the evening and take itself out of
positions. With the help of their tanks the Canadians negotiated the the firing line early in the morning, it was now decided to station it
sea wall and now attacked the Germans from the rear. permanently in Rheims.
Nevertheless the bitter fighting continued—literally to the last bul- II. Gruppe was meanwhile based at Mont-de-Marsan, half way
let and the last hand grenade. The main body of the Canadian army, between Bordeaux and the Spanish border, and in Biarritz. “J.w.d.“
however, from then on bypassed isolated pockets of resistance and was how a Berliner would describe it—“ janz weit draußen“ (“a long
advanced inland. way out“). A Swabian would say “En Hendrdubbfinga“ (“In Hin
Sword Beach tertupfingen“—“The back of beyond!“).
This was the easternmost of the landing sectors. At 06.00 hours At any rate it was 500 miles far south-west of Lille—and 375 miles
the first of the landing craft left their mother ships, and 34 DD am- from Ouistreham.
phibious tanks were also launched. The sea at this landing sector However, suddenly Ouistreham was at the Front.
was relatively calm, so that the landing of the tanks was successful; Sword Beach, to be more precise.
or rather, largely successful, since two of the tanks sank in the high The Kommodore of Jagdgeschwader 26 had tried to prevent
tide. The arrival of the others ashore virtually coincided with the what he referred to as “sheer lunacy“. Oberstleutnant Priller was an
first wave of the infantry. irascible man, renowned for his furious temper. As he also was for
The rocket launchers of the British covered the beach and its forti- speaking his mind—even to generals—when he blew his top. He felt
fications with sustained fire almost to the moment the landing craft it was irresponsible, in view of the imminent invasion, to distribute
came ashore. It was 07.25 hours. Centaur IV tanks and Sexton self- his complete wing all over the place, instead of leaving it where it
propelled artillery were positioned in the landing craft so that they was probably going to be needed very soon—on the Channel coast.
were able to fire over the ramp at known enemy positions as they Priller had blown his cool the previous day. It was a vintage, premier
approached the beach. cru Priller outburst. “But that’s sheer lunacy!“, he had shrieked down
At La Brèche the British came under desperate, well-aimed defen- the telephone. “If we are expecting an invasion then the Staffeln should
sive fire. Some tanks were knocked out. But then the second wave ap- be brought forward, not withdrawn! And what would happen if the
proached and landed. As the ramps were lowered the soldiers stared attack took place during the redeployment? My supplies cannot be in
directly into the muzzle flash of the German heavy guns and machine the new bases before tomorrow or the day after tomorrow! You’re all
guns. The commander of the 1st South Lancs. was killed as was a nuts!“ He was abruptly reprimanded and told that as a mere wing
company leader and his deputy. The battle was fiercely contested. commander he simply did not have sight of the big picture. And at
However the tanks succeeded in silencing one German artillery po- any rate there was no way that an allied invasion would take place
sition and fortification after the other. It was not until 10.00 hours in this awful weather.
that the task was finally completed. Priller slammed down the receiver and looked at his comrade
In the west the British had to deal with other German fortifica- Wodarczyk, the only other pilot from his entire wing who was still
tions. The main strongpoint WN 21 (Trout) was attacked by Royal there. Then his eyes focused on a bottle of cognac. “What difference
Marines. Three AVRE tanks came to their assistance. All three were can we make? If the invasion takes place they’ll probably ask us to stop
destroyed by a German anti-tank gun. it all by ourselves. Why don’t we just get blind drunk, instead?“ At
Nevertheless the British breakthrough could not be prevented. 01.00 hours the bottle was empty. Whether Priller was still standing
Some 700 British soldiers were killed. at that time is unclear.
It is not known how many of them fell victim to the machine guns And then in the very small hours of the following morning the
and cannon of Oberstleutnant Josef Priller and Unteroffizier Heinz telephone rang. Today was 6th June 1944. A somewhat bleary Ge-
Wodarczyk. schwaderkommodore Oberstleutnant Priller answered the phone.
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9. “DR. GUSTAV WEST!“—THEy’RE COMING…
“Priller“, he heard an agitated voice at the end of the line saying, tered now was to get everything to Normandy. But the roads leading
“there seems to be some kind of invasion underway at this moment! I there had all been destroyed and meanwhile become extremely dan-
suggest you prepare your wing for immediate takeoff“. At the other gerous. The “sheer lunacy“ was now about to be avenged.
end of the line was the “Ia“ from the Operations Branch of the higher In Lille it was 08.00 hours *4 on 6th June 1944. Priller taxied to
HQ, Jagdkommando II. the take-off point with his comrade Wodarczyk. Neither was under
Priller had difficulty registering his thoughts. He wondered if he the slightest of illusions as to the prospects of their surviving this
had heard correctly. So there was an invasion: well, there you go! mission.
Was that not exactly what he had thought would happen? First of The two Focke-Wulf 190 A-8s took off. Priller was flying a modi-
all Priller felt a compelling need to spell out in detail to the man on fied aircraft whose outer wing cannon had been removed so as to
the phone exactly what he thought about the entire Luftwaffe High make the fighter lighter and therefore faster and more agile. It was
Command in general, and Jagdkommando II in France specifically. probable that his wingman also used a 190 which had likewise had its
He later admitted that the colourful language he used was beyond the weight reduced. Priller led the pair and Wodarczyk followed orders
realms of decency. “Who the hell am I supposed to prepare for take and stuck closely to his tail.
off? I am ready for takeoff! Wodarczyk is ready for takeoff! And you The two lonely German fighters tore westward through the French
numbskulls know fine well that I’ve only got a paltry two aircraft left!“ countryside at low altitude. Loneliness, however, is a very one-sided
Priller slammed the receiver down. affair. In this case for the moment it only related to the aircraft bear-
However, the telephone did not stay silent for long. It was the same ing the Balkenkreuz insignia on the fuselage and wings. Above them
“Ia“, who tried with difficulty to compose himself as Priller immedi- all hell was let loose. The closer the two fighter aircraft came to the
ately launched another broadside. The former now gave the all clear: invasion beaches the greater the number of allied aircraft tearing
it had all been a false alarm. Priller was lost for words. But now it was through the skies far above them. There were huge formations of
impossible trying to get back to sleep. American Mustang fighters and Thunderbolts, as well as British
Nor was that the end of the matter. Some time later the phone rang Spitfires. yet not one of the allied pilots in the overcast skies spotted
again. And again it was Jagdkommando II at the other end of the line, the two grey-mottled German fighters a few feet above the surface
again the “Ia“ for a third time. “Priller,“ a dumbfounded Kommodore of the ground.
heard through the receiver, “the invasion has begun! It would be best Shortly before Le Havre a blanket of cloud rose ahead of Priller’s
if you took off at once!“ engine cowling. The Oberstleutnant climbed and disappeared in the
The day before the commander of Jagdgeschwader 26 still had grey wall. Wodarczyk followed him. As both aircraft emerged on the
71 fighter aircraft at his disposal: now he completely flipped his lid. other side of the blanket of cloud, having flown through the soup, an
“What did I tell you! You damned morons! *3 What am I supposed to indescribably dramatic scene awaited them. There ahead of them lay
do with two aircraft then? Where are my Staffeln? Could you maybe the entire, colossal allied invasion fleet.
fetch them back?“ And the landing sector known to the British as Sword Beach. But
The Ia refused to be provoked. When he finally managed to get a neither Priller nor Wodarczyk knew that. They were also unaware
word in edgeways he said: “Priller, we don’t know exactly where your that in the next few minutes they would both achieve historical im-
Staffeln landed, but we intend to redeploy them to the airfield at Poix. mortality. Both were expecting the more prosaic mortality of hu-
Please send your entire ground crew there immediately. Meanwhile it mans. If it had to be so, then at least they would go out with a bang
would be best if you yourself flew directly to the invasion area. Good and with fanfares.
luck, Priller!“ The fighting below them on the landing beaches was unyielding.
Now Priller regained his composure. Trying to keep his cool as Priller radioed his wingman to keep in close contact with him. “What
best he could he replied: “And would you be so kind—if you don't a sight—a really great sight! Down there they’ve got everything you
mind—as to tell me where the invasion is taking place?“ could wish for, as far as the eye can see! Believe me—that’s what you
“Normandy, Priller! In the area around Caen!“ call an invasion!“ Priller paused to take a deep breath in amazement.
It was immediately arranged for all three Gruppen of JG 26 to be “Let’s go Wodarczyk! Good luck!“
brought nearer to the invasion front and then sent into action. Priller With these words the Oberstleutnant tipped his Focke-Wulf into
required about an hour or so to give out the relevant instructions a dive and tore towards the beach sector at 405 mph. At less than 160
and details. feet he pulled his fighter aircraft out and raced across the beach with
I. Gruppe and III. Gruppe were both alerted by telephone. all guns blazing.
They took off and were directed towards the airfields of Creil and The British soldiers dived to the ground as the bullets were sprayed
Cormeilles-en-Vexin (12 miles north-west of the Paris city limits), in all around them. Then the ships’ anti-aircraft gunners woke up, cov-
order to reinforce the fighters of Jagdgeschwader 2. Meanwhile II. ering the two German aircraft with an unprecedented hail of fire. To
Gruppe had been informed by 05.00 hours and had been on the way
to the scene of the fighting since 07.00 hours. The redeployment of
the large number of ground staff who were still on the road at any rate *3
Note: it must be assumed that expressions used in the sources such as the words “damned morons“
with all their equipment, was more difficult. The way things were at have been retrospectively airbrushed. It is quite likely that the actual words used were considerably
more colourful and involved reference to a certain anatomical region.
the moment they were travelling in the wrong direction. What mat- *4
This refers to German time, therefore, for the landing troops it was 09.00 hours.
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9. “DR. GUSTAV WEST!“—THEy’RE COMING…
no avail, though. Priller flew onwards, behind him Wodarczyk raced When he woke up he thought it was a diversionary manoeuvre.
across the beach, firing with all he had. Eventually Priller climbed The main invasion was pending—at Pas-de-Calais, as expected.
again. As if through a miracle, neither of the two Focke-Wulfs had been Therefore he ruled out bringing in any more units to Normandy
hit by an anti-aircraft shell. Perhaps even more surprising—there was from the area of the 15. Army, including the deployment of the tank
not a single British or American fighter aircraft to be seen. reserve—until it was hopelessly too late. Hitler was still vacillating
When these finally arrived, both Focke-Wulfs disappeared into a on 8th June 1944. The subterfuge of the British double agents was
thick wall of cloud similar to the one they had so suddenly emerged reaping dividends.
from. Erwin Rommel reappeared in La Roche-Guyon towards evening.
“That must have been the Luftwaffe’s greatest moment in history“. He had cancelled his meeting with Hitler. What would have been
Priller’s words over the radio were laced with irony. Nevertheless the the point? The enemy had not been destroyed on the beaches, but
two comrades had survived. instead had already brought 150,000 men ashore, established beach-
A British sailor who was on board HMS Dunbar, Leading Stoker heads and was now securing them. Rommel knew the significance
Robert Dowie, witnessed the virtuoso display of the two German of that. He had sat in silence in the car with the driver and his aide-
fighter pilots and is said to have shaken his head in disbelief as he de-camp, Hauptmann Lang, for the entire journey. Then he uttered
commented: “Jerries or not, good luck to you lads—you’ve got guts!“ a single sentence: “I was right the whole time—the whole time!“ By
The two lads landed safe and sound but covered in perspiration. the end of that first evening the invasion had cost the lives of ap-
After Leutnant Bärwolf the two men may well have been the first proximately 9,000 allied troops. In Britain that was far fewer than
German pilots over the battleground. They would not be the only ones had been expected.
that day. Nevertheless it remained the most famous low level attack on And, what about the performance of the Luftwaffe? At the end of
the landing beaches. the first day of the invasion they had flown an impressive 170 mis-
The second Jagdgeschwader represented in France, Major Kurt sions. The pilots of the other side in comparison could only manage
Bühligen’s Jagdgeschwader 2, was stationed near the area of the a pathetic 14,000 missions! Those figures make Priller’s irony un-
Normandy Front. However one of his three Gruppen, III. Gruppe, derstandable.
was also in the process of redeployment at the moment. It was on its Leutnant Wolfgang Fischer of 3. Staffel of JG 2 recorded his ex-
way to Fontenay-Le-Comte, to the north of La Rochelle, while II. periences during the first day of the invasion. Even his description
Gruppe was actually in Gütersloh in Germany recuperating. Since of the days and hours shortly before it began are informative. This is
the beginning of the year they had lost 50 pilots and were urgently how he recalled the events (the times relate to German time):
awaiting replacements. Friday, 3.6.1944:
The Gruppe of JG 2 most rapidly brought to the vicinity of the On this day our I. Gruppe was brought even further inland to
invasion beaches, at any rate after its hasty redeployment in the early Nancy/Lorraine and the surrounding area. 1. and 3. Staffel landed
hours from the area around Nancy to Creil, was I. Gruppe under Ma- on the plateau above the town. We stayed there the whole weekend
jor Erich Hohagen. Even III. Gruppe intervened in the fighting and doing nothing which I found rather pleasant, since I knew Nancy well
joined the operation after midday, despite the redeployment order. Its from the time I spent there at JG 107 flying school in 1943. Today with
Gruppenkommandeur, Hauptmann Herbert Huppertz, would in fact hindsight I realise that our redeployment was probably because they
excel himself today. In spite of their recall to the rear area I., II. and knew the time and place of the invasion and wanted to move the fighter
III. Gruppe of JG 26 also took off on 6th June 1944 after lunchtime units to safety away from the expected air strikes. German Counter
against the allied air armada. Intelligence, under Admiral Canaris, had in fact achieved great suc
On the ground there was initially some grounds for German op- cess with a vast network of spies who penetrated positions of trust
timism. The German 21. Panzerdivision managed to give the British among the enemy. His colleague, Oberstleutnant Oskar Reile, who was
a hard time near Caen (Sword-Beach). However eventually the Ger- then Commander of Intelligence, Western Front, wrote in his authen
man counter-attack was halted thanks to the additional air support tic document “German Intelligence in the 2nd World War—Western
of British Hawker Typhoon fighter bombers. Nevertheless a difficult Front“ the following:
situation arose for the Allies when the German 192. Panzergrenadier
Battalion succeeded in driving a wedge between the Canadian 3rd “Page 351: The responsible officers on the staff of the
and British 3rd Divisions, and reached the coast between Juno and Commander-in-Chief West (Feldmarschall Rommel) and those
Sword sectors. The success of the invasion was on a knife edge. A in our intelligence units in the West were firmly convinced from
further advance, the rapid and deliberate exploitation of this tactical the beginning of the year 1944, as a result of intelligence
advantage would now only have been possible with the introduc- gathering, that the main thrust of the invasion would be in
tion of more German tanks, and in broad daylight that would be a Normandy. Nevertheless, Hitler and his advisors would not
very risky operation. Despite all the dangers there was a compelling be swayed by the arguments put forward by those officers,
military logic to it. The armoured divisions were available to von preferring to trust his ‘unerring genius as a field commander‘
Rundstedt—theoretically. However the Führer had personally as- and the reports of numerous departments of the RSHA (Reichs-
sumed sole responsibility for their deployment. And at that moment sicherheitshauptamtes—German State Security) and the Na-
the Führer was sleeping. tional Socialist Party. […]
413
9. “DR. GUSTAV WEST!“—THEy’RE COMING…
414
9. “DR. GUSTAV WEST!“—THEy’RE COMING…
The aircraft used by “Pips“ Priller on 6th June 1944 bore his traditional number Black 13 . The photo
dates from the days around the time of the invasion. But no. 13 was not the official marking for a
Geschwaderkommodore. The photo below left proves that there was an earlier aircraft
which bore the regular marking.
On 5th February 1944 the commander-in-chief of Army Group B, Erwin Rommel, visited JG 26.
Oberstleutnant Priller’s Focke-Wulf 190 can be seen in the foreground. At that time it was still the
A-6 variant, serial number 530120. This aircraft still bore the regular insignia of a Kommandeur
− − . The serial number has been shortened on the starboard side of the fin to 0120, but appears in
full on the port side. The stylised Adlerflügel or eagle’s wing (the jagged black trim beneath the engine
cowling) is likewise asymmetrical: it is shorter on the right than the left.
415
9. “DR. GUSTAV WEST!“—THEy’RE COMING…
Oberstleutnant Priller, Feldwebel Schmidtke, Unteroffizier Wodarczyk, At the end of the war only one of these men would still be alive. It was
Unteroffizier Grad. Note the well-camouflaged Focke-Wulf 190 behind the one on the left with a pipe, a man of rather smallish stature nicknamed
the men. “Pips“.The conversation appears to be a rapport or debriefing of some
kind. Priller does not look very happy.
Josef Priller before a mission in his earlier Focke-Wulf 190 A-6, serial Two other flying aces in discussion: Oberst Walter Oesau (left) and Major
number 530120. Here the starboard side of the tail unit can be seen, only Heinz Bär (right) in April of the year 1944 in Störmede. Walter Oesau was
showing the digits 0120, but in larger script. The number on the other Geschwaderkommodore of JG 1, Heinz Bär would shortly afterwards on
side is written in full. 1st June 1944 be named Kommodore of JG 3.
416
9. “DR. GUSTAV WEST!“—THEy’RE COMING…
The idea that the main thrust of the invasion would take
place in Pas-de-Calais and not in Normandy never gained any
traction among the staff of the Commander-in-Chief West (OB
West). However this idea was the one repeatedly put forward
by the staff of the Wehrmacht (OKW). Their reasoning: this
was the narrowest point of the Channel …!“
“Page 348: On 1st June 1944 at 18.00 hours the soldiers
who had been given the task of listening in to the BBC burst in
to inform me that 26 of the code words relevant to the units
of the Résistance and the SOE Groups had just been broadcast.
This meant that it had placed them on a high-alert footing: the
invasion was likely to take place at any minute.
That same evening I made a long-distance phone call to the
Commander-in-Chief West and also informed him by telegram. …
[…] Finally we felt a sense of relief on 5th June at 18.00 hours
when the BBC broadcast the message we had been expecting to
the intended recipients in the Résistance and the SOE groups:
it meant that the invasion was imminent, go immediately and
fulfil the duties assigned to you for D-Day! I made long-distance Focke-Wulf 190 A-8 with BR-21 (21 cm) rocket launchers.
calls informing the relevant departments at HQ of the details
without delay...“
Leutnant Fischer continues his story: formation in his place. The sky at this time was about 70% covered
“Monday, 6th June 1944: with thick cumulus cloud, in between which we spotted flights of allied
At 05.00 hours a motor cycle despatch rider pulled up outside my fighters again and again. We were not supposed to get involved with
hotel, bellowed out my name and the word ‘invasion!‘. He drove me these but instead our first priority was to deploy our rockets against
up to the plateau from where we took off in kneehigh grass for Creil sea targets. At 10.00 hours we flew over Bayeux, where I was able to
aerodrome (some 25 miles north of Paris). There our aircraft were pick out fires. Then we flew at some 10,000 feet shrewdly out over the
equipped with BR 21 rocket launchers […]. Baie de la Seine for a while, and then attacked from the sea, thereby
During the two hours’ wait while the refitting took place I wondered managing to outwit the ships’ antiaircraft guns, since to begin with
how anyone was ever supposed to hit anything with those contraptions we were left undisturbed by them.
—I’d never actually ‘worked‘ with them before. We called them ‘Dödls‘, The critical drawback for us was that the dense fighter protection
a blanket description for all sorts of things (for example that was the over the beachhead meant that we had insufficient time to take up
name we gave to the Knight’s Cross). The targeting instructions were favourable positions from which to approach the fleet broadside on.
actually short and to the point: From the altitude we were flying at I had a view of the whole coastal
‘At a distance of 1,100 yards lead 90 yards to port‘. To stabilise the stretch from the Orne Estuary, near Caen, up as far as St. Maire Eglise,
flight path the propellants were expelled through 24 slanting holes off the coast of which a deeply echeloned armada of ships was ap
bored into the base of the rocket so that they twisted right and then proaching. Far to the outside were battleships, transports were nearer
drifted to the right. Therefore they were not suitable for small point land and small landing craft were on their way to the beach, leaving
targets. However against ships, with their great length, I felt that they behind a stern wake. Thick dark barrage balloons were suspended in
would have a reasonable chance of success. Well, our ‘Revi‘ gunsights the air above the units close to the coast. As I had no benchmark with
(Reflexvisier—reflector sights) were designed to project a circle before which to compare the scope of such an operation I initially accepted
our eyes, the diameter of which corresponded to 1/10 of the distance to the glorious scene before me in a matteroffact sort of way. Subcon
the target. Thus, for example, when a fighter aircraft with the usual sciously, however, I think I had the feeling that we were never going to
wingspan of 35’ filled the whole of the circle the pilot would be sitting get a handle on all of this.
350’ behind it. Therefore it should be possible to determine with suf However, I was the only one fortunate enough to get one of the big
ficient accuracy the distance to a ship and the necessary lead angle to ger barges (it looked like a Victory Class or Liberty Class transport,
attack from the broadside and score a direct hit—if they informed us about 8,000 tons—I had a vague idea of hearing that somewhere)
how long those damned barges actually were. So, simple pilot that I directly in my line of approach on the broadside. I pressed the but
was, I estimated what the length of certain various vessels might be, ton and aimed half a ship’s length ahead of the bow, not registering
for example, a troop transport ship was 110 or so yards long. At 09.30 immediately that the barge was slowly bearing left and then actually
hours we then took off with twelve aircraft, Fw 190 As, on our first making a gradual left turn. I therefore quickly reduced my speed (so
mission to the invasion front, in the area of the British Gold sector at as not to get closer than the 1,100 yard limit), adjusted to a whole
the coast near the village of VersurMer. Hohagen was not flying the ship’s length by 1 ½ inches to the left of the assumed ship’s course
mission with us this time, Hauptmann Wurmheller was leading the and then waited until by my calculation the diameter of the sight
417
9. “DR. GUSTAV WEST!“—THEy’RE COMING…
had filled (therefore I was approximately 1,100 yards away from the actually occurred. So I then flew right up to the enemy aircraft and saw
target) and launched the rockets. For a fraction of a second I was for myself the devastating effect of our armament. The bullets had hit
enveloped in a powerful flash of blinding light accompanied by what the cockpit and the section of the fuselage behind it, carving out four
sounded like a horde of wailing banshees. At the same time the air inch square holes, the edges of which were now glowing dark red. The
craft jerked upwards after its sudden loss of weight. I was initially pilot was sitting slumped in his seat, as his aircraft went into a shallow
stunned with shock from it all but I quickly recovered as the aircraft descent and crashed at the foot of a tree which stood directly on the
then settled and flew on safely. Then I followed the two points of light river bank. The tree was immediately engulfed in flames burning from
on their downward trajectory and was able to determine that the port top to bottom like a huge candle.
side rocket exploded in the stern of the ship leaving a vast cloud of The complete success of the mission, given our circumstances at the
smoke, while the starboard rocket just missed the rear of the ship and time, was exceptional since we achieved eight *5 aerial victories against
the light was extinguished in a plume of water. no losses of our own. We arrived home at 21.30 hours—flushed with
Afterwards I dropped the two cartridges and dived towards the coast an archaic sense of triumph. Waiting for us was a mobile broadcasting
at increasing speed to avoid the troublesome surge of flak bursts, all the unit from the German radio network who wanted each of the three suc
while covering the line of the beach with all guns blazing as I headed cessful pilots [he is probably referring to the three pilots of I. Gruppe]
for the ‘Gartenzaun‘ (‘garden fence‘—Luftwaffe slang for the home to give a live, unscripted interview and each would afterwards receive
airfield). The dense allied fighter protection over the beachhead made a recording of it […].
it impossible to hang around there for any length of time, so home it Tuesday, 7th June 1944:
was then at 10.45 hours, although not to Creil, but to Chantilly race That morning at 05.30 hours I. Gruppe again took off under the
course near Senlis, where there was a small château which served as command of the Gruppenkommandeur with twenty aircraft, firstly to
our lodgings. My direct hit was confirmed by my comrade, Leutnant attack shipping targets in the British Gold sector and then to destroy
Walterscheidt. The Kommandeur offered me his congratulations. the Würzburg radar installation at Pointe du Hoc which had fallen
Strangely enough there were no further missions for the whole of into allied hands. For this mission the Kommandeur had chosen me
I. Gruppe until later in the evening. Only the Kommodore and his as his Katschmarek [note: wingman]. At 06.00 hours we flew over the
HQ Schwarm flew a mission in the afternoon to the beachhead where beachhead but, given the short period of time we had available before
he shot down a P47 Thunderbolt [note: the Kommodore in ques- we had company, we were unable to take up any favourable attacking
tion refers to Major Hohagen, and the ‘P-47‘ was in fact a Typhoon], positions, so we fired our rockets too inaccurately to record any direct
while all the other pilots were actually given permission to leave the hits. Then I committed a breach of discipline and acted independently,
base. As it had turned into a warm day a few comrades and I made something for which I would have been severely reprimanded if I had
the most of the opportunity and visited the public swimming baths, returned. Specifically I left my tactical position as Katschmarek, went
where we splashed about among the local residents and soaked up into a relatively steep dive and attacked one of the large 2,000 ton land
some sunshine. All the time a solitary P51 Mustang circled at leisure ing craft, which was located so invitingly in my flight direction and cur
above the town at an altitude of about 7,000 feet but fortunately he rently disembarking infantry from its open stern. Of course I intended
did not spot our parked aircraft. At any rate there was no air attack on to climb back up and return to my position after the attack, but I came
our ‘racetrack‘ as we liked to call the airfield. This was a truly surreal under such unbelievably dense fire from the light antiaircraft guns of
situation if ever there was one! all the surrounding ships (although the landing craft I was attacking
It was not until nightfall that we were back in action when the did not offer any defensive fire during my approach), that I had the
Kommandeur of III. Gruppe, Hauptmann Huppertz, landed at 19.30 impression that I was diving into a redhot spider’s web. For between
hours with five FockeWulf 190 A8s at our base. He took me and two six to eight seconds I was able to spray the barge from bow to stern with
other comrades (Leutnant Eichhoff and Oberfähnrich Beer) with him all my weapons. But shortly before I pulled the aircraft out just over
on a mission against air landing units in the area of Caen. We took off the landing craft, I heard one direct hit in the rear fuselage and then
at 20.00 hours and flew at about 1,300 feet above the ground almost another one at the front in the engine, which immediately began to lose
exactly due west. When we were level with Evreux, however, we spot oil, thereby smearing the windscreen. And with that it was curtains!
ted twelve P51s systematically attacking a German army column at I managed to get the aircraft back to 1,300 feet and then baled out—
low level. That meant that we had to abandon the original objective still over the sea. As I did so I struck my left shoulder against the tail
since our priorities now had to be the protection of the marching col fin—fortunately the left shoulder—since it meant I could still pull the
umn and that led to the jettisoning of our drop tanks. The Mustang ripcord with my right hand. I was blown gently towards the coast and
pilots were so engrossed in their work that they did not spot our eight then, contrary to all the international rules of warfare, I came under
FockeWulf 190s as we climbed to 4,000 feet behind them so as to be light antiaircraft fire from the landing craft I had attacked. I was
able to attack them from the optimal position from above and behind. feeling like ‘Christmas and Easter at the same time‘ as we used to say.
As we climbed each one of us was literally able to select at our leisure
our own target. Mine was occupied attacking a column on a bridge,
when I got on his tail unnoticed and hit him full on as he pulled up *5
In several other sources five or six P-51 Mustangs are cited. According to the source “2nd Tacti-
away from his target. Because of our steep turns I had to lead at an cal Air Force“ Volume 1/Classic Publications/2005/Chris Shores and Chris Thomas, this discrepancy
can be explained by the fact that some of the downed “Typhoons“ were in fact P-51s which were taken
extreme angle and therefore I was unable to observe my hits as they unawares in the low level attack on 4th FG USAAF.
418
9. “DR. GUSTAV WEST!“—THEy’RE COMING…
419
Appendix
Aircraft: Bell P-39 D Airacobra (saw extensive combat with the Soviet VVS)
Maximum speed: 367 mph at 13,780 ft | maximum permissible dive speed 466 mph | Ceiling: 31,500 ft
Data at an altitude of feet (ft): 0 3,281 6,562 9,843 13,123 16,404 19,685 22,966 26,247 29,528 32,808 36,089 39,370
Data at an altitude of meter (m): 0 1,000 2,000 3,000 4,000 5,000 6,000 7,000 8,000 9,000 10,000 11,000 12,000
Maximum speed (mph): 295 311 328 344 364 362 355 343 328 301 – – –
Speed of climb (ft/min): 2,008 2,126 2,264 2,382 2,539 2,146 1,642 1,156 703 260 – – –
Time for a 360° turn (sec): 27.6 28.7 30.0 31.6 33.2 39.0 48.4 63.0 88.6 153 – – –
Comparison with the literature:
Maximum speed according to William Green: 360 mph at 15,000 ft (579 km/h at 4,572 m)
Rate of climb according to William Green: initial climb rate: unspecified, time taken to reach 20,000 ft (6,096 m): 9.1 min
Aircraft: Bell P-39 Q Airacobra (saw extensive combat in the Soviet VVS)
Maximum speed: 380 mph at 13,780 ft | maximum permissible dive speed 466 mph | Ceiling: 32,700 ft
Data at an altitude of feet (ft): 0 3,281 6,562 9,843 13,123 16,404 19,685 22,966 26,247 29,528 32,808 36,089 39,370
Data at an altitude of meter (m): 0 1,000 2,000 3,000 4,000 5,000 6,000 7,000 8,000 9,000 10,000 11,000 12,000
Maximum speed (mph): 306 321 337 357 377 376 369 359 346 325 – – –
Speed of climb (ft/min): 2,264 2,402 2,539 2,677 2,835 2,441 1,890 1,384 900 441 – – –
Time for a 360° turn (sec): 26.5 27.8 29.1 30.6 32.1 37.1 45.6 58.2 79.9 124 – – –
Comparison with the literature:
Maximum speed according to William Green: 376 mph at 15,000 ft (605 km/h at 4,572 m)
Rate of climb according to William Green: initial climb rate: unspecified, time taken to reach 20,000 ft (6,096 m): 8.5 min
Aircraft: Bell P-63 A Kingcobra (saw combat primarily in the Soviet VVS)
Maximum speed: 409 mph at 24,606 ft | maximum permissible dive speed 482 mph | Ceiling: 38,000 ft
Data at an altitude of feet (ft): 0 3,281 6,562 9,843 13,123 16,404 19,685 22,966 26,247 29,528 32,808 36,089 39,370
Data at an altitude of meter (m): 0 1,000 2,000 3,000 4,000 5,000 6,000 7,000 8,000 9,000 10,000 11,000 12,000
Maximum speed (mph): 310 321 334 345 358 371 387 249 406 394 378 349 –
Speed of climb (ft/min): 2,362 2,342 2,342 2,323 2,303 2,283 2,244 2,224 1,931 1,386 872 356 –
Time for a 360° turn (sec): 24.9 26.6 28.7 31.0 33.6 36.4 39.8 43.5 50.9 65.6 92.0 160 –
Comparison with the literature:
Maximum speed according to William Green: 410 mph at 25,000 ft (660 km/h at 7,620 m)
Rate of climb according to William Green: initial climb rate: unspecified, time taken to reach 25,000 ft (7,620 m): 7.3 min
Aircraft: Curtiss P-36 D Hawk (the French Armée de l’Air received the P-36 A to C as the H-75 A-1 to A-4 )
Maximum speed: 323 mph at 17,060 ft | maximum permissible dive speed 482 mph | Ceiling: 38,400 ft
Data at an altitude of feet (ft): 0 3,281 6,562 9,843 13,123 16,404 19,685 22,966 26,247 29,528 32,808 36,089 39,370
Data at an altitude of meter (m): 0 1,000 2,000 3,000 4,000 5,000 6,000 7,000 8,000 9,000 10,000 11,000 12,000
Maximum speed (mph): 267 276 287 297 309 321 319 317 311 302 286 266 –
Speed of climb (ft/min): 3,642 3,661 3,681 3,681 3,701 3,701 3,169 2,559 2,028 1,498 902 411 –
Time for a 360° turn (sec): 15.9 16.9 18.1 19.4 20.8 22.4 25.6 30.0 35.9 44.8 63.6 104 –
Comparison with the literature:
Maximum speed: William Green, for a P-36 G: 323 mph at 15,000 ft (520 km/h at 4,572 m), for a P-36 C: 311 mph at 10,000 ft (500 km/h at 3,048 m)
Rate of climb according to William Green: initial climb rate: unspecified, time taken to reach 15,000 ft (4,572 m): P-36 G and P-36 C: 4.9 min
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